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Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill (Review by Androgeos Exeunt)
Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill is a world created by Pants of Power (I'll refer to him as PoP for the rest of this review). PoP made this world using tiles taken from Loonyland: Halloween Hill, hence its name. However, as a Loonyland: Halloween Hill player myself, I can assure you that, aesthetics aside, this world bears little similarity to Loonyland gameplay at all. Combat in Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill is pretty varied, ranging from the usual smash-them-as-you-see-them levels, to levels where the enemy only comes after certain conditions are met, and to levels where they try to overwhelm you with superior strength or numbers. Of special note is one level where you, alone, have to take on 127 Zombies in a screen's worth of space. The puzzles in Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill are pretty standard stuff. Most of the puzzles in this world can be solved through observation and patience. The only two exceptions are The Dungeon, a level that cannot be completed unless you search and destroy every single Mumble located in the crooks and nannies of a near mind-screwing labyrinth, and the fact that I have not completed the entire world, with over 10% of it still incomplete. This is despite the fact that I've searched almost the entire world for a secret level several times. My gauge of this world's quality is determined by two things: aesthetics and resemblance to Loonyland in terms of gameplay. Visually, it looks very similar, and that's good. Look at the walls on the hub level, for instance. Gameplay-wise, however, there is little similarity between this and Loonyland. You still have a life bar, instead of a bunch of hearts, and you don't really see any monsters from Loonyland in it, not even the Werepuppy, which is a perfect clone of Loonyland's Dogboy. I only killed one of them. The end result is a game with pretty average quality, scoring high marks for appearance, but severely lacking in gameplay similarity to Loonyland. Despite the average quality, I did have a lot of fun playing through Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill. Once again, I find myself resisting the urge to use the level with 127 Zombies as an example of a level that I can and will play again and again, simply because it's fun. Rarely do you get the opportunity to pick up so much firepower to dispatch so many Zombies in a small, deadly space. The difficulty of Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill is well within the mark of a world worth playing. As of this review, I've completed 90.9% of the entire world, and that 90.9% was done completely on Hard (aka. classic Dr. Lunatic) difficulty. None of the levels I've completed are impossible, including that level with 127 Zombies (albeit I still die once every few replays). This world has only one issue that prevent it from being held with the same respect as the original five worlds of Dr. Lunatic, and it's this: over-realism. The hub level features a small pond and a cliff face ... and you can kill yourself by walking into either one. It's not terribly hard. Compare this to the Crazy Asylum of Madness, which gives the illusion that you are crossing a narrow, narrow bridge into the asylum itself. Notice that, in the Asylum world, you cannot kill yourself in the hub level in any way. The point I'm trying to make is this: the pond and cliff face in Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill should not kill the player. There is barely enough space for the player to walk around them. Granted, the pond has two safe tiles around it, which is cramped, but still reasonable, but the cliff has a miserable one tile. Worse still, you must walk along the cliff edge to access one of the levels. On the whole, I think PoP did a fairly good job creating Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill. In terms of appearance, this world is arguably the closest to Loonyland that any Supreme world can ever get. The only thing that really disappoints me is that, gameplay-wise, Dr. Lunatic: Halloween Hill is still Dr. Lunatic Supreme With Cheese-style, not Loonyland-style. (By Androgeous Exeunt, edited to keep it out of the Dr L Worlds category section.)